Counter culture talk courtesy of a Catholic convert.
The West crumbles but, as usual, God’s got a fix.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

UPDATED: Is The Archdiocese of Toronto More Concerned About Saving Paper Than Saving Souls?

UPDATE: March 13, 2018

The Archdiocese is now promoting itsLenten Day of Confessions - March 11-17, 2018. And once again, the analysis that appears in this posting from 2013 is 100% applicable.Although concerns have been expressed a number of times to the Archdiocese, no reply has ever been received and no change made to its promotion of the event. The addition of one document, a more robust Exam of Conscience, to the Archdiocesan online presentation on the Sacrament would indicate an appropriate level of concern and responsibility, but remains omitted.

UPDATE: November 20, 2015
It's that time of year. Although this posting is dated two years ago, the Archdiocese of Toronto is once again promoting its Day of Confessions, set for December 13-19. And once again, the analysis that appears in this posting from 2013 is 100% applicable.
Nowhere on the Archdiocesan site is there any indication whatsoever of the pervasiveness or dangers of contraception, listed as intrinsically evil behaviour (a mortal sin) in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, although the Archdiocese notes in its FAQ #17 the following:

17. If I forget to confess a mortal sin, is my confession still valid and my sins forgiven?

Yes. If one through bad memory or nervousness forgets to confess a mortal sin, the person’s confession is valid and all his or her sins will be forgiven. The person should, however, mention that forgotten sin in the next confession to receive advice and a proper penance. If this is a routine occurrence, it is probably an indication that one is either confessing too infrequently or not fully aware of the true horror that is a mortal sin, because one should not forget mortal sins easily. If, on the other hand, a penitent deliberately refuses to mention a mortal sin in confession, none of the person’s sins will be forgiven, the person will remain in the dangerous state of mortal sin, and will be guilty of the additional sin of sacrilege.

Think of it. It is common knowledge that up to 90% of Catholics dissent from the teachings of Jesus Christ and His Church and approve of artificial "birth control." Read the posting below and you tell me if the gymnastics in thought of the Archdiocese are anything short of hypocritical, even schizophrenic. Such is the reality of Canadian Catholicism, as advanced by pseudo-catholic Bishops, who must repent publicly or resign.

------------------------------------

A Day of Confessions

Yesterday, the Archdiocese of Toronto held its Day of
Confessions, tweeting out a link to its Facebook
page. On the Facebook page I noticed a link to the Archdiocesan website page featuring full
details of this very special event.

Reading through the questions on the FAQ page, I found them to
be very well prepared and answered. I especially liked FAQ #10 and thought the
question of mortal sin was handled exceptionally well:

10. What is a mortal sin?

A mortal sin involves an action whose object is grave matter that is
committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent. Grave matter is generally
understood to be something that violates the Ten Commandments. Full knowledge
means that one is aware that God or the Church he founded considers the act
sinful (even if one doesn’t totally understand why it is sinful). Deliberate
consent means a consent sufficiently intentional to be a personal choice (CCC
1857-1859).

What I especially like about this answer was the clause in
brackets, “even if one doesn’t totally understand why it is sinful”. In fact I
tweeted out my enthusiasm:

Why would I be enthused about that clause? Because it
co-opts the thinking that some Catholics use in order to excuse themselves or
others when it comes to commission of mortal
sin. How so? Often they will say (or imply) that, since mortal sin has
three rather strict requirements, not many Catholics actually commit mortal
sin, or, at least, it’s difficult for someone to commit mortal sin.

Consider the following definition of mortal sin
and notice the difference.

Mortal
sin is a sin of grave matter

Mortal sin is committed with
full knowledge of the sinner

Mortal sin is committed with
deliberate consent of the sinner

The stickler is the second clause. For example, in this
instruction, we are told that, “The person must know that what they’re
doing or planning to do is evil and immoral”. Examples are then given. But the
bottom line is that this leaves quite a lot of room for the person evaluating
his/her sin to say that they don’t believe (or understand) that what they’re
doing is evil or immoral. Therefore that condition is not met and no mortal sin
has been committed.

The guidelines
provided by the Archdiocese of Toronto, rightly informed by Catholic teaching,
have clarified the matter for Catholics. Full
knowledge means that one is aware that God or the Church he founded considers
the act sinful (even if one doesn’t totally understand why it is sinful).
Bingo! So you don’t really have to totally understand why it’s sinful.
You just have to know that God or the Church considers the act sinful. This is
an awesome explanation, in full accord with the Magisterium
of the Catholic Church, but rarely expressed in such simple terms. After all,
if you know that the Church considers the action sinful and, instead of
bringing yourself up to speed on the nature of said sin and why it’s so awful,
you decide to continue on in that sinful action, you have only yourself to blame for your
stubbornness.

So where did these
guidelines come from?

At the bottom of the webpage listing these guidelines to
Confession I noticed the following statement:

"These materials have been adapted from the Diocese of Fall
River’s “Be Reconciled to God” Initiative in 2009, with permission of Fr. Roger
Landry."

So I went on over to the Diocese of Fall River to take a
look. Apparently they hosted a similar day at their Diocese and named it “Reconciliation Weekend”. There I
saw the master copy of the FAQ
About Confession and, sure enough, the info on the Archdiocese of Toronto
site is practically identical. The Diocese of Fall River also offered an Adult Exam of Conscience, which is a two page pamphlet and
an excellent survey to prepare oneself for Confession. It references not only a
general statement of the meaning of each of the Ten Commandments, but explores
specific applications of each Commandment from Church teaching. This little
pamphlet is a great expression of the various considerations to be included in
a proper Examination of Conscience (subject of which was covered by the Archdiocese of Toronto in its FAQ #5).

Archdiocese of
Toronto dilutes Exam of Conscience

Whereas the Diocese of Fall River chose to provide a
comprehensive guide to permit the parishioner’s examination of conscience, the
Archdiocese of Toronto provided a much reduced version which was
centred very briefly on the general meaning of each of the Ten Commandments.
Two examples dealing with comparable passages will suffice to demonstrate the
huge gap in education between the two:

EXAMPLE 1

Fall River document:

THIRD COMMANDMENT

"Remember to keep holy the Sabbath Day." (Ex 20:8)

Did I miss Mass on Sunday or a Holy Day of Obligation through my own
fault?

Have I fully, consciously and actively participated in Holy Mass or
just gone through the motions?

Have I given my full attention to the Word of God or have I given in
easily to distractions?

Have I arrived at Mass late due to carelessness?

Have I left early without a serious reason?

Have I kept the Eucharistic fast before Holy Mass?

Have I received Holy Communion in a state of mortal sin?

Did I do work on Sunday that was not necessary?

Have I used Sunday just as part of the “weekend” or as a day for acts
of love toward God, my family and those in need?

Archdiocese of Toronto document:

Remember to keep holy the Lord’s
Day.

Do I go to Mass every Sunday (or Saturday Vigil) and on Holy Days of
Obligation (Jan. 1; Dec. 25)? Do I avoid, when possible, work that impedes
worship to God, joy for the Lord’s Day, and proper relaxation of mind and body?
Do I look for ways to spend time with family or in service on Sunday?

Did I commit impure acts with myself (masturbation) or with others
through adultery (sex with a married person), fornication (premarital sex) or
homosexual activity?

Have I been faithful to my husband or wife in my heart and in my
conduct with others?

Have I sinned through the use of contraception, contraceptive
sterilization, or in-vitro fertilization?

Have I touched or kissed another person in a lustful way? Have I
treated others, in my deeds or thoughts, as objects?

Have I been an occasion of sin for others by acting or dressing
immodestly?

Am I married according to the laws of the Church?

Did I advise or encourage anyone to marry outside the Church?

Archdiocese of Toronto document:

You shall not commit adultery.

Have I respected the physical and sexual dignity of others and of
myself?

You shall not covet your
neighbour’s spouse.

Have I honored my spouse with my full affection and exclusive love?

Why point out these
differences?

It is important to ask a few questions after observing the
contrast in information provided by these two dioceses.

First, if the Archdiocese of Toronto wants to help souls
find forgiveness and reconciliation with God, it is vitally important to
provide sufficient information by which to arrive at a conclusion about one’s
sin (or lack of). It is commendable that the Archdiocese sponsored such a
special event in order to call people back to God through Confession. However,
the Examination of Conscience is a decisive factor in determining whether a
Catholic leaves the confessional with all sins confessed, and, more
importantly, in the case of mortal sin, whether he/she leaves in a spiritually
safe and secure condition. If, through laxity, routine, or indifference, a soul
fails to account for mortal sin present in their life, repentance is doubtful
and the absolution given is not sufficient for forgiveness. See FAQ #17 to
evaluate the risks. That penitent remains in very serious danger indeed. To
illustrate my point, when I first heard of the Day of Confession on Twitter I
immediately had a concern for the 82% of Catholics who take issue with the
Church on contraception. Here’s what I tweeted:

Secondly, there is a crisis today in our society in relation
to sexual sin and impurity in general. Catholic leaders are often criticized
for their lack
of attention to this devastating reality. Why not take a direct approach to
helping souls deal with these sins by way of a detailed Examination of
Conscience such as the Diocese of Fall River provided? Why dilute the
examination to vague generalities which really leave people guessing and still
paralyzed by the contamination which invades their thinking from the world, the
flesh and the devil? Be direct, be specific, suggest possibilities. In particular, Toronto Catholics were denied consideration of at least two grave and pervasive sins which drag down their souls in today's society: "Have I sinned through use of contraceptives?" and "Have I received Holy Communion in a state of mortal sin?" I tweeted
my concern to the Archdiocese:

@Contra1diction
Our confession guide is double-sided 3 x 11 in. For the examination of
conscience, we squeezedin as much as we
could fit!
— Archdiocese of TO (@archtoronto) December
11, 2013

This is quite a ridiculous answer in my opinion. Is the
Archdiocese trying to conserve paper? Are they trying to keep to a certain
small size of brochure that they pass out to parishioners? I thought the goal
was to get souls to the confessional and to God and to do it in the most
effective, soul cleansing, God glorifying way. Curtailing the examination of
conscience is not the way, for reasons cited! The size of a brochure will
obviously be a consideration but whether there’s an additional column or two
(or three!) is hardly going to make a significant difference. I couldn’t help
but tweet back:

After all, even if the Archdiocese had a shortage of paper, they
could have published the comprehensive format of the Fall
River Examination on their website for all to read, couldn’t they? But they
didn’t. Also, it’s worth noting that the Fall River Diocese didn’t even offer a
diluted version of the Exam. Obviously it didn’t make sense to them to offer a
"fast and easy" guide.

I never got a reply back from my last tweet to the
Archdiocese.

Why do I bother?

It’s not too difficult to see that my blog focuses on
abortion and what I consider to be its root causes. I have pointed
out many times that Catholic Bishops, especially, have neglected to
properly teach and warn the souls under their charge in regard to keeping
themselves pure before the Lord. The sins of contraception and sacrilege
are rife among Catholics and contraception is the evil
twin of abortion. The failure of Bishops to address this crisis is what
fuels the abortion holocaust. If the Bishops wish to move beyond
the very serious
charges levelled
against them they must take clear decisive action.

In light of the Day of Confessions at the Archdiocese of Toronto,
I believe there is serious room for a charge against the Archbishop of failing
in his duty to rescue the thousands of Catholics in Toronto who might have
availed of the event, attended confession, and walked away with absolution only
to resume an objectively evil practice in short order. And of course the risk
of sacrilege in partaking of the Eucharist while in that state of mortal sin is
very real. Keep in mind that depending on the poll taken, a HUGE proportion of
Catholics openly
dissent from Church teaching on contraception. (50% or more are in support
of some degree of legal permission for abortion!!) Don’t these staggering numbers
warrant serious steps be taken to defeat this evil?

I say the Archbishop of Toronto, Defender of the Faith and
Guardian of the Moral Law for Toronto, failed to do his complete duty in
planning for the Day of Confessions. And, in all likelihood, souls will be lost
to Hell because of it. And the killing of precious nascent human
life in Canada has not been stemmed.

P.S. Is the Blog page of the
Archdiocese any indication of the emphasis that the Archbishop places on a
right Catholic understanding of the grave sin of contraception? Out of over 500
blog postings and 590,000 page views, only one
article in 2008 on Humanae
Vitae, and that was not an article with a prominent Toronto Catholic’s
name attached. It was a reprint from an article in the Irish Independent. What lost opportunities to help cleanse the
Catholic soul of an insidious evil.

P.P.S. I blogged previously about some of Archbishop Collins' statements and activities. You might find them somewhat relevant to this post.